Even when the children in his family were very young, Yamamoto Jin'emon would draw near to them and say, "Grow
up to be a great stalwart, and be of good use to your master." He said, "It is good to breathe these things into their ears
even when they are too young to understand."
When Ogawa Toshikiyo's legitimate son Sahei Kiyoji died as a youth, there was one young retainer who galloped up
to the temple and committed seppuku.
When Taku Nagato no kami Yasuyori passed away, Kola Yataemon said that he had been unable to repay the master's
kindness and committed seppuku.
CHAPTER 7
Narutomi Hyogo said, "What is called winning is defeaing one's allies. Defeating one's allies is defeating oneself, and
defeating oneself is vigorously overcoming one's own body.
"It is as though a man were in the midst of ten thousand allies but not a one were following him. If one hasn't
previously mastered his mind and body, he will not defeat the enemy.''
During the Shimabara Rebellion, his armor being still at the encampment, Shugyo Echizen no kami Tanenao
participated in the fight dressed only in hakama and haori. It is said that he died in battle in this attire.
At the time of the attack on the castle at Shimabara, Tazaki Geki was wearing very resplendent armor. Lord
Katsushige was not pleased by this, and after that every time he saw something showy he would say, "That's just like
Geki's armor.''
In the light of this story, military armor and equipment that are showy can be seen as being weak and having no
strength. By them one can see through the wearer's heart.
When Nabeshima wizen no kami Tadanao died, his attendant Ezoe Kinbei took his remains and had them consecrated
at Mt. Kola. Then, confining himself in a hermitage, he carved a statue of his master and another of himself doing
reverence before the master. On the first anniversary of Tadanao's death, he returned to his home and committed
tsuifuku. Later the statue was taken from Mt. Koya and was placed at the Kodenji.
In the generation of Lord Mitsushige, Oishi Kosuke was at first a foot soldier serving at the side of his master.
Whenever Lord Mitsushige was making the trip for his alternate- year residence in Edo, Kosuke would make the
rounds around the sleeping quarters of his master, and if he thought a certain area to be insecure, he would spread a
straw mat and pass through the night awake by himself. In rainy weather he would simply wear a bamboo hat and an
oilpaper raincoat and would stand watch while being pelted by the rain. It is said that to the end he never spent a
single night in negligence .
When Oishi Kosuke was an uchitonin, a mysterious person sneaked into the area of the maids' chambers late at night.'
There was a great commotion from upstairs to down and men and women of all ranks were running about; only
Kosuke was not to be seen. While the senior ladies-in- waiting were searching about, Kosuke yanked his sword from
its scabbard and waited quietly in the room next to the master's bedchamber. As all was in confusion, he had felt
apprehension for the master and was there to protect him. Because of this it was said that his viewpoint was quite
different.
The man who had sneaked in was Narutomi Kichibei. He and his accomplice Hamada Ichizaemon were condemned
to death for adultery.
Once when Lord Katsushige was hunting at Nishime, for some reason he got very angry. He drew his sword from his
obi, scabbard and all, and began beating Soejima Zennojo with it, but his hand slipped and his sword fell into a
ravine. Zennojo, in order to stay with the sword, fumbled down into the ravine and picked it up. This done, he stuck
the sword in his lapel, crawled up the precipice, and just as he was, offered the sword to his master. In terms of quick-
mindedness and reserve this was matchless resource.
Once when Master Sane Ukyo was crossing over the Takao River, the bridge was being repaired and there was one
large piling that could not be pulled up. Master Ukyo dismounted, grasped the piling firmly, pave a shout, and began
to pull it up. There was a tremendous sound, and although he was able to pull it up to his own height, it would go no
further and thereupon sank. After he returned home he became sick and suddenly died.
At the time of the funeral at the temple in Jobaru, when the funeral procession crossed the Takao Bridge, the corpse
leapt from the casket and fell into the river. A sixteen-year- old acolyte from the Shufukuji immediately jumped into
the river and took hold of the dead body. Everyone then ran down into the river and pulled up the corpse. The head
monk was very impressed and instructed the other acolytes to be guided by this young man. It is said that he later
became a very famous monk.
Yamamoto Kichizaemon was ordered by his father Jin'-emon to cut down a dog at the age of five, and at the age of
fifteen he was made to execute a criminal. Everyone, by the time they were fourteen or fifteen, was ordered to do a
beheading without fail. When Lord Katsushige was young, he was ordered by Lord Naoshige to practice killing with
a sword. It is said that at that time he was made to cut down more than ten men successively.
A long time ago this practice was followed, especially in the upper classes, but today even the children of the lower
classes perform no executions, and this is extreme negligence. To say that one can do without this sort of thing, or
that there is no merit in killing a condemned man, or that it is a crime, or that it is defiling, is to make excuses. In
short, can it not be thought that because a person's martial valor is weak, his attitude is only that of trimming his nails
and being attractive? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]